Alabama Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey seeking re-election

Republican Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey kicked off her campaign for a second term Thursday and, so far, she has no opposition.

Ivey made the announcement on the Capitol steps surrounded by Republican state senators and other GOP officeholders in a show of party solidarity.

Ivey said that since she became presiding officer of the state Senate in 2011, the Legislature has worked with Republican Gov. Robert Bentley to downsize government, pass balanced budgets, and sustain essential state services. "Alabama is in better shape now than it was then, and yet there is more to do," she said.

With Ivey's announcement, all Republicans incumbents holding state offices elected statewide are now running for re-election except State Auditor Sam Shaw and Secretary of State Beth Chapman, who are not seeking any office.

No Republicans or Democrats have stepped up to challenge Ivey, with the primary election on June 3, 2014.

Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, predicted that Alabama voters will choose to stick with many of the Republicans they put in office in 2010, particularly with unemployment down to 6.8 percent.

"I think people are going to be pleased with the way it's going and Kay is going to be part of that," he said.

Ivey served as state treasurer prior to defeating Democratic incumbent Jim Folsom Jr. to win the lieutenant governor's office in 2010. One of the first groups to endorse Ivey in 2010, the Alabama Forestry Association, announced Thursday that it will back her bid for re-election.

Like many Alabama politicians before her, Ivey used her campaign kickoff to stake out the federal government as a target for her campaign.

"This state now has strong state leadership in place to protect our interests and our liberties from the ever-growing, ever-increasing, ever-powerful efforts of the federal government to manage and control our daily lives and our businesses," she said.